James Jones foul upgraded to flagrant

no Pierce penalty

MIAMI — The NBA has reclassified two fouls from Sunday's contentious second-round playoff series opener between the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat.

James Jones' technical foul with 7:59 remaining in the fourth quarter of the Heat's 99-90 victory at AmericanAirlines Arena was rescinded. However, the Heat reserve forward was retroactively charged with a flagrant foul, penalty one for his foul at that juncture, when he landed hard against Celtics forward Paul Pierce.

The league has a point system in place that can lead to postseason suspensions for excessive flagrant fouls or technical fouls over the course of the playoffs.

In addition, Jermaine O'Neal's flagrant foul, penalty one at 2:30 of the third quarter for a shoulder thrown by the Celtics center at a driving Jones has been downgraded by the NBA to a personal foul.

There was no announcement of any other league action, with the review of Sunday's game apparently now closed.

That means Pierce escaped a suspension for what appeared to be a headbutt against Jones during their incident with 7:59 remaining.

Pierce later was ejected with seven minutes to play when he received a second technical foul for an argument with Heat guard Dwyane Wade. Pierce earlier received a technical foul for the incident with Jones.

An NBA official reiterated Monday that the contact by Pierce was not deemed a headbutt, which lead referee Dan Crawford also said in a postgame statement issued Sunday.

The league continues to equate headbutts with punches, which trigger mandatory suspensions, as was the case with Atlanta Hawks center Zaza Pachulia in a first-round series against the Orlando Magic.

In addition, no action was taken against Heat forward LeBron James, who walked to the Celtics bench to retrieve agitated teammate Mario Chalmers after Celtics guard Delonte West was called for a second-quarter technical foul.

By rule, players who leave the bench area during incidents can face suspensions, but James' stroll was considered benign.